How to Find (and Keep) a Chairperson
May 19, 2004
Promise them anything—so long as they take the job.
That's the approach of too many churches when recruiting committee heads, says Harvey D. Moore, minister of First Christian Church in Liberal, Kansas. It doesn't work, for two reasons: either the person is wise to the charade and refuses, or else the person agrees to serve—and soon gets overwhelmed by the job.
What's a better way? "Each summer I work out a general calendar for every committee—a folder with a page for each month," says Moore. "On each page I list the work to be done that month. I also include the relevant input from last year's committee month by month: reports, evaluations, even snapshots of certain events, suggestions for the future."
"Then, I can sit down with a prospective chairperson and say, 'Here are the specifics of what this job is all about. Here are your basic agendas for every meeting of the coming year.' Items get added or deleted along the way, of course, but the general direction is given. They know where they should be going and how to get there."
For example, the September page in the Worship Committee's folder includes, in addition to routine bus ness, a note to begin planning for Advent. The January page calls for an evaluation of all Advent activities, a copy to go to next year's file.
"Our experience," says Moore, "is that people will accept a task much more readily when they know exactly what they're being asked to do and have a clear idea of how and when to do it."
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